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Gov. Edwards: ‘We have flattened the curve’ of coronavirus, but must remain cautious

Louisiana is flattening the curve of the coronavirus, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Wednesday, saying decreases in hospitalizations and ventilator use are better measures of the virus’ spread than deaths, which have spiked this week.

“We certainly have flattened the curve, but it doesn’t take much for these cases to spike, and we know how deadly it is,” Edwards said.

The state also added 433 new cases of the virus Wednesday, down from 502 added Tuesday for the state’s second smallest single-day case increase since the end of March.

But Edwards emphasized sustained decreases in the number of COVID-19 patients who need hospitalization and ventilator treatment as more timely signs of the virus’ grip on the state.

“We have flattened the curve,” Edwards said. “The reason we can say that is because deaths are a lagging indicator.”

On Wednesday, 1,943 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized in the state, down 191 patients from a peak of 2,134 Monday, and 425 of those patients needed ventilators, down from 490 a week ago.

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Edwards said Wednesday that COVID-19 patients who die from the virus start showing symptoms an average of 11 days before dying, meaning that they would likely have contracted the virus two or even three weeks before their deaths are reported to the state Department of Health.

“The exposure actually comes ahead of the 11 days, and so literally people will die today from something that happened two to three weeks ago, which is why if there’s going to be a spike in cases because we let our guard down, it’s not something we’re going to see in our numbers necessarily for some period of time,” he said. “That’s why we have to be ever vigilant and take all of these measures seriously.”

Edwards also said that 31 of the state’s juvenile inmates have tested positive for the virus, with a third of them considered recovered so far, and noted that none of them have required hospitalization or ventilator treatment.

Although the state’s Department of Health doesn’t issue statistics on recovered COVID-19 patients, Edwards said a model put the state’s recovered population at roughly 7,044 people.

“This is not a tally that we have tremendous confidence in being exactly precise at this point in time,” Edwards said, “but based on the number of people who we believe have tested positive and because of the lapse of time and how long it’s been that they’ve been without symptoms, we have an estimated recovered population of 7,044.”

Edwards also announced that K-12 students would not return to physical classes this school year, but that online and remote learning would continue under local school board direction.

“This is not the end of learning for this academic year, it’s just the end of students physically going to the schools’ campuses for the remainder of the spring semester,” Edwards said. “I fully expect that instruction and learning will continue. I fully expect that our schools will continue with nutrition programs to feed the students. That remains critically important.”